October 11 Holidays

National Coming Out Day was established on October 11, 1988, the day after the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, to celebrate the act of coming out as LGBTQ+ as a political and personal act of visibility — the annual observance has been credited with reducing the isolation felt by LGBTQ+ youth. International Day of the Girl Child was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2011 to recognize the unique challenges girls face around the world and to promote their rights — an estimated 130 million girls worldwide are out of school, and child marriage affects more than 650 million women alive today. National Sausage Pizza Day celebrates the pizza topped with Italian sausage — seasoned pork typically flavored with fennel, garlic, and chili — a combination that Chicago deep-dish culture made indispensable. General Pulaski Memorial Day marks October 11, 1779, when Polish-born General Casimir Pulaski died of wounds sustained at the Siege of Savannah — a cavalry commander who is known as the “Father of the American Cavalry.”